Dina Sfat Movies

The difficulties endured by Brazilian/Portuguese playwright Antonio Jose da Silva in the early 18th century are the focus of this period drama. After emigrating to Portugal from Brazil, he enjoyed a brilliant career and married into nobility. However, though he was a practicing Catholic, he was of Jewish descent. The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions never accepted that anyone whose ancestors were forcefully converted to Christianity could possibly be a "genuine" Christian, and they periodically persecuted these "conversos." Near the beginning of the film, da Silva (Felipe Pinheiro) is seen being tortured during his first detainment by the Inquisition. The film also shows his life between that imprisonment and the second one, which resulted in his death at age 32. This is not, however, an excessively gory film, as the explicit details of his tortures are not dwelled upon. It is interesting to note that though the formal instrument of the Inquisition still exists (now known as The Congregation for the Sacred Doctrine at the Vatican), da Silva's death at its hands came well after the end of its most active phase in Latin countries. The production of this film spanned many years; it began in the late 1980s (hence the presence of star Dina Sfat in the cast, who died in March 1989) and wrapped in 1995. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When a government official arrives to close down a girls' school, he is left alone for awhile to wait for the arrival of the school's administrators so he can give them official notice of the closure. In the meantime, he starts to daydream about the people he will soon be dismissing -- daydreams that constitute the story of this movie, and that center on the sexual yearnings of just about everyone from those in charge down to the custodian. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Macunaíma is a black native from the forests of Brazil in this satirical comedy. When he bathes in a magic stream, he is turned into a white man. He goes into town and becomes the lover of a female revolutionary. She is killed by her own time bomb and her good-luck charm is found by an Italian. The man becomes a millionaire. Macunaíma goes to visit the lucky man and almost ends up on the menu. He returns to the jungle where he is abandoned by his followers and family for lying about food. The once-fortunate man sits alone as he tells his story to the only creature who will listen, a parrot. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide